Activate Youth Inc held Cayke Con, Melbourne’s first fully halal cake convention, at Kensington Town Hall on Saturday 2 August 2026, drawing more than 200 attendees aged 16 and over to a competition run entirely by youth volunteers.
Activate Youth Event Lead Ms Shaza Illyaas shared with the audience that the idea had modest beginnings.
“Like any good cake, Cayke Con started with a few simple ingredients,” Ms Illyaas said.
“A wild idea, a passionate team, and a love for cake and community.”
The concept followed a visit by Activate Youth members to a mainstream cake convention, where they found many of the cakes on display were not halal and could not be tasted.
Entrants at Cayke Con competed for best tasting cake, most extravagant cake and a people’s choice award decided by attendee vote, judged by a panel of four drawn from the Melbourne halal food industry.
Ms Reem of Reem Bakes, a former contestant on Season 10 of The Great Australian Bake Off, assessed technical work.
Ms Elif, who runs Sweet Rose Bakes, judged the design and finish.
Foodie content creators Mr Sulaymaan and Mr Hamdaan of Halalbros assessed presentation and flavour.
“I had started planning an event like this myself, because I wanted something that did not restrict us as Muslims,” Ms Reem said.
“When I found out Activate Youth was already organising it, I was overjoyed to be part of it.”
Activate Youth Vice President Ms Zainab Schroeder said Cayke Con delivered three organisational objectives: celebrating creative lifestyles, promoting ethical consumerism and supporting youth entrepreneurship.
“We do not all need to be doctors or nutritionists, we can celebrate diverse skills,” Ms Schroeder said.
Activate Youth Marketing Director Ms Mona El Rahi told attendees the convention was built to serve the organisation’s core mission of building confidence in the Australian multicultural youth identity.
“It means you can hold a conversation with your grandmother in your mother tongue as easily as you can sit with anyone at uni or at work,” Ms El Rahi said.
“It means you already belong in all of these spaces, and you refuse to give up pieces of who you are to satisfy somebody else’s idea of what an Australian must be.”
Many entrants run small baking businesses from home kitchens and placed their business cards beside their cakes, giving attendees a direct line to the bakers whose work they had tasted.
The convention also hosted the first public trading day for Caf-AY, Activate Youth’s youth run cafe and mobile chai and coffee service supported by VicHealth, which offers a free barista training pathway for young people seeking their first hospitality role.
The cart is available for hire at community and corporate events through the organisation’s Instagram account, @activateyouthau.
Ms Schroeder said five Activate Youth volunteers carried the event over five months of preparation: Ms Shaza Illyaas, Ms Tania Asim, Ms. Mona El Rahi, Ms Huda Sheikh and Ms Zara Khan.
Activate Youth volunteers also managed stallholder arrangements, venue liaison, judging logistics and media on the day.
Ms Schroeder said the organisation would launch the Caf-AY cart, the Navigator Mentorship Program and the Launchpad Business Spotlight program over the coming months.
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